KEY POINTS

  • Justin Sun serves as an advisor to Houbi Global
  • He is the crypto company's majority owner with a controlling stake of $1 billion
  • SEC filed a lawsuit against Sun "for unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities"

Justin Sun, the crypto mogul who founded TRON, one of the world's leading blockchain DAO ecosystems, slammed rumors that he tried to sell his ownership stake in Houbi to Binance following reports that the world's largest centralized crypto exchange platform turned down his supposed offer.

The Chinese-born Grenadian crypto entrepreneur said Thursday that he has no intention of changing the ownership of Huobi, the Seychelles-based centralized crypto exchange (CEX) platform where he serves as an Advisor. He further claimed that he made no proposal or offer to Binance's CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on the purchase of Huobi.

"We have always regarded Binance as one of our most important partners and will continue to work closely with them on all levels," Sun tweeted.

"However, I must point out that in the past week or so, I have not proposed any offer to CZ regarding the purchase of Huobi, nor have we even discussed Huobi in the past week or so," the crypto kingpin clarified.

Sun's recent tweet came in response to reports referencing anonymous sources about the supposed deal, claiming Binance had no interest in buying Sun's Huobi stake because of its alleged ties to China.

"Binance wasn't interested because of rumors that Huobi has ties to mainland China, which Binance wants nothing to do with, according to the person, who requested anonymity," CoinDesk reported.

Bloomberg, over the weekend, reported the TRON founder held talks regarding the sale of his stake in Huobi Global, citing "a person with direct knowledge on the matter." As per the report, the billionaire reached out to potential investors over the past weeks.

"As much as I love a good April Fool's Day prank, I must deny the report that Huobi Global is seeking a stake buyer," Sun said in a tweet on April 1. "Rest assured, Huobi is committed to providing our users with a safe, reliable, and innovative platform for trading and investing in cryptocurrency," he added.

Echoing Sun's statement, a spokesperson for Houbi said that the cryptocurrency company has no plans for a new owner.

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun speaks at a financial forum in Beijing
Reuters

While Sun is officially an "advisor" in Houbi, he often speaks on behalf of the company. He is believed to be the majority shareholder in the company after he acquired the controlling stake for $1 billion.

Meanwhile, like CZ, Sun is also in the crosshairs of financial regulators.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a landmark lawsuit in a district court in New York against Sun and three of his companies, namely Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd. and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent) allegedly "for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT)."

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